LOS ANGELES - An internationally recognized expert on Asian antiquities was arrested in Seattle on Friday on a wire fraud charge in connection with a federal investigation into looted Southeast Asian antiquities.

Roxanna M. Brown, 62, director of the Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum at Bangkok University in Thailand, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on Friday.

Brown was scheduled to appear in a Seattle courtroom Monday.

She is accused of allowing her electronic signature to be used on appraisal forms that, for tax purposes, inflated the value of antiquities donated to several Southern California museums.

Federal agents raided several Southern California museums in January, looking for artifacts smuggled into the U.S. The investigation is ongoing.

The wire fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.